Alpha's Egg (Digital Painting)

In 1997, three scientists met in Argentina to hunt for evidence of prehistoric birds. Instead, they made a discovery that changed what we know about the largest animals ever to walk the Earth, the sauropods. Scattered across several square miles were thousands of eggshells. They clustered in nests of 15 to 40 eggs, and there were hundreds of nests. From that pattern emerged a startling revelation. The paleontologists had stumbled across something unique: a vast dinosaur maternity ward. They dubbed the site, "Auca Mahuevo ", a play on the Spanish words for "more eggs". From the huge number of nests, the scientists deduced that sauropods gathered here to lay their eggs. But how does an animal standing 12 feet off the ground, lay an egg without breaking it? Maybe the mother had an egg tube extending from her body, as some turtles do, so the eggs could gently slide to the ground, or maybe, she managed to squat. Whatever the case, something as simple as laying an egg still mystifies us, and what really amazes is that one of the largest animals ever to walk the Earth hatched from an egg a little larger than a grapefruit.
An animal is most vulnerable when it's small. So, how did baby sauropods manage to survive? Since hatchlings were easy targets, perhaps they quickly traded the exposed nests for the relative safety of the forest. If hundreds or thousands of babies hatched at the same time, predators would have had more prey than they could stomach, safety in numbers. The young dinosaurs had a second line of defense, clues have been found deep inside the bones, the cross section of a leg bone reveals how fast a sauropod grew. The juvenile bone has lots of holes full of blood vessels, indicating a rich blood supply and rapid growth. The adult bone has fewer holes and less blood flow. Like tree rings, the adult bone displays lines of arrested growth. A sauropod could have reached its adult size of 35 feet long in under 12 years. At that rate, by the time a human child entered kindergarten, it would be 15 feet tall. For sauropods, survival meant growing up fast.
Among the thousands of fossilized eggs discovered at Auca Mahuevo, paleontologists found an ancient mystery. The remains of hundreds of tiny unborn sauropods. Some of the fossils have tiny pencil like teeth with clear signs of wear. The unborn babies were teeth grinders, preparing themselves for life as a vegetarians. But they never made it out of their shells. What killed them? The nests seemed undisturbed, which rules out predators. Clues to the mystery were found in the rocks. The eggs were buried in heavy silt, signs of flooding. But what kind? A flash flood that suddenly swamped the nests? Unlikely. After all, the eggs weren't swept away. Instead, maybe a heavy rain and a rising river. Eventually, the river would overflow its banks and flood the plains. As flood water reaches the nests, it seeps through the porous membranes, drowning each embryo and the very shell meant to protect it. When the water recedes, it leaves the nests buried under a thick layer of mud and silt. A disaster for the sauropods, proved a boon for paleontology. In death, these animals gives us an extraordinary glimpse into their lives.

•Date: November 27th, 2020 11:27 A.M.
•Size: 146.06 KB
•Resolution: 1620 x 1215
•Digital Width: 1800 px
•Digital Height: 2400 px